Fellow Goon Spike Milligan, who was too ill to travel to the thanksgiving service, sent a message calling Secombe "the sweetness of Wales".

Comic Jimmy Tarbuck said Secombe was "a big brother, my favourite mischievous uncle and a dad all rolled into one".

"I'm talking about a 20 stone man of five foot eight who said he had been hit by a lift," he said.

Secombe (centre) was a founder of The Goons

"He had the energy of a pack of hyenas and a laugh to match.

"He filled theatres everywhere and he'd be thrilled at the turnout today."

The Dean of Westminster, the Very Reverend Dr Wesley Carr said: "They called him variously an entertainer, a singer, a comedian and a writer.

"But today we remember Sir Harry Secombe, the clown.

"The clown has an honoured place in human history. He is the one who can make people both laugh and weep, who can puncture pomposity, and from any of life's situations conjure a critical yet funny view."